Enjoying these last few weeks!

Wow - what a fast two weeks! Since being back from the beach we have been having so much fun and time is FLYING by! Adam and I are enjoying our LAST week of summer break - can't believe it's already time to go back to work! We have been busy with play dates, day trips and this past weekend (long weekend because we left on Thursday) we went to WV to visit Nana Fisk, Uncle Bradley and Ella's great-grandmothers.
This first picture is Ella doing one of the things she loves most in her life - riding a carousel! One of our day trips was to Charlottesville where we went to the children's museum, ate dinner outside on the downtown mall, and listened to an outdoor concert. We had a great time!

This past weekend was SO much fun - and a mini vacation for us because we stayed at the farm (which has been mentioned in previous posts) where Nana will be living after she gets married THIS weekend (more info to come on that because Ella and I are in the wedding and Adam is the photographer)! It is so beautiful there and Nana and Bob have worked so hard on projects to make it a fun place for Ella! One of the things they had for her was a playhouse full of dress up clothes (in addition to a swing set, sand box, a golf cart to ride, and toys galore!) And as you can see in the pictures Ms. Drama Queen had a BLAST dressing up in the various outfits!

At one point she was actually wearing two dresses, a hat, sunglasses, a necklace, a bracelet, a purse and dress-up shoes - precious!

She even sat in a tree!

It was also Uncle B's 21st Birthday!! Nana babysat Ella so that Adam, Brad and I could go camping - we had a very fun time! Yay to Uncle B!!

Then on Sunday to finish off all the excitement, Nana and Bob played a 'gig' at the Rockbridge Vineyard ( http://www.rockbridgevineyard.com/). It was a nice day - almost felt like fall - and they did a wonderful job playing music.

Adam and I looked at our calendar today and noticed that every weekend is full until the very last weekend in August (which is actually Adam's birthday - so really the first week of September). We are so blessed to have so many fun and exciting things to do and lucky to be able to do them as a family. Ella is growing and changing so much and she is up for anything and everything!

THE BEACH!

So the Conners are back after a WONDERFUL week at the beach! As I said in my last post, we went to Sunset Beach, NC. We left on the 4th, and got back yesterday!
In the first picture, you can see Ella 'helping' us pack! Actually, the bags you see to the right were packed and she was unpacking them and had found a box of her oatmeal, that she decided to dump all over the floor while Adam and I were in other rooms getting things done! We were able to laugh about that one though, because she had spent the day with her grandmother and great-grandmother while Adam and I could pack (in peace :0))


Here is Ella's very first steps onto the beach. I must admit, Adam and I had heard stories from friends of their children hating the sand on their feet and being miserable, so we really weren't sure what to expect, but Ella absolutely loved it! To her it was like a big sand box and she had a blast! She was unsure of the ocean at first, but by the last day, she was literally lying on her stomach in the ocean!!

While we were there, we actually met a few couples that had children right around Ella's age. One couple had two daughters (2 and 3) and she had one of these little tiny pools that they could play in (because they too were a little unsure of the ocean at first)...and Ella enjoyed playing in it so much we got her one too. It worked out great though, because we did have a couple days of rain...and we could put this little pool in the 'carport' area under the deck and she had a great time playing!!

Also, to pass the time on the rainy/overcast days we went to the aquarium and to an 'Alligator Adventure' park - we had a great time at both! We also shopped a little and took Ella to a little mini-carnival at Barefoot Landing.

So on one of the days it had been a little over cast, we decided to take an evening walk along the beach and got this pic of Ella - beautiful!!

Here she is getting a little more brave. This day, she busied herself by running from the sand into the water - she must have done that 100 times!!

As I said - she did NOT mind the sand on her feet, and she even enjoyed being buried!! We dug a hole so that we could bury Adam and she got in it instead...she laughed!!

So for our last night, we decided to go out to eat for a last 'hurrah!', and we found a place called 'Ella's'!! It was SOOO cute and we hope to make it a tradition!

For the most part, Ella was a great traveler! We only stopped twice (for a 6 1/2 hour trip) both ways, which I thought was great - for some reason I pictured stopping every 2 hrs or so - but after lunch we were able to go longer stretches while she took her nap!

On the way home yesterday, we made our final stop 'Chuck E Cheese' so Ella could run around and play - she LOVED this ride that went up and around - she rode it LOTS!

And that's our trip without being too long and boring with stories. It was SUCH a great trip and so wonderful for us to spend time as a family away from home. It's amazing how your priorities change when you have a child because we totally wanted to do things that would be fun for her - and her smiles and laughs are what made it fun for us. Adam and I have had great conversations about wanting to have wonderful experiences for Ella as she is growing up, so that she can look back at pictures and eventually have fun memories of her childhood - I feel like we're off to a great start!

Unit next time...